Ratchet type cap



1968 H. L. CARPENTER, JR 3,405,337

RATCHET TYPE CAP 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 26. 1967 FIG INVENTOR l/GRBEET l. CIRPGADU'AQ JI, BY

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ATTORNEYS Oct. 15, 1968 H. CARPENTER, JR 3,405,837

RATCHET TYPE CAP Filed April 26, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 4

INVENTOR llseeeer 4 car/ :075? J;e

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,405,837 RATCHET TYPE CAP Herbert L. Carpenter, Jr., Babylon, N.Y., assignor to The Greif Bros. Cooperage Corporation, Delaware, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 26, 1967, Ser. No. 633,951 Claims. (Cl. 220-27) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An improved tamper-proof plastic or plastic lined container including a body member having a neck defining an opening into the interior of the container and a closure. The neck and closure are provided with complementary ratchets capable of engaging and interlocking with each other thus preventing the disengagement of the neck and closure without causing a visible deformation to one or both members.

Background of the invention Industrial products such as dangerous and expensive chemicals are often shipped in plastic and plastic lined containers. These products are all too often subjected to pilferage and thievery and large portions of the contents of the containers are subject to loss. This is especially true where the containers are handled by many people during transshipping. Because of the bulk nature and fungible characteristics of the goods so transported, it has heretofore been virtually impossible to detect if such containers were opened and subjected to pilferage prior to their arrival at their final destination unless elaborate and expensive techniques were used to seal the container.

Summary of the invention It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide an improved container closure which is relatively easy to manufacture, can be utilized Without necessitating the use of special equipment or tools, and which not only protect the contents from leakage or discharge, but also presents a tamper-proof method of sealing the container.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a closure which once sealed cannot be opened without causing physical change to the closure so that the fact of the openin g will be clearly noticeable.

Another object is to provide a closure of the above mentioned type which does not require the use of any extraneous material in order to close and seal the container.

These and other objects and advantages are most effectively attained by providing a container with a closure which may be secured to the container neck threadedly or otherwise. The neck is a substantially cylindrical member extending from the top of the container body and defining an opening into the interior of the container. Complementary screw threads are disposed about portions of the neck and closure for coupling the two and a tamperproof means for securing the closure to the neck is provided so that a visual inspection will disclose any uncoupling or attempted uncoupling of the neck and closure. The tamper-proof means of the present invention comprises at least one projection or tooth and a corresponding engaging surface or depression, one of which is located on the neck and the other on the closure. The projection and engaging surface may conveniently be formed as part of a saw-tooth ratchet, that is, a ratchet having a multiplicity of zig-zag teeth, each tooth having one surface inclined to 3,465,837, Patented Oct. 15, 1968 the axis of the neck or closure so as to permit the overriding of the teeth on the opposite ratchet as the closure is being affixed to the neck; and one surface substantially parallel to the axis of the neck and closure so as to prevent the subsequent disengagement of the neck and closure. The spacing between the adjacent teeth of one ratchet forming the engaging surfaces with respect to the teeth or projections of the other ratchet. Thus, after the closure and neck ratchets interengage, disengagement will not be possible without stripping the teeth from one of the ratchets or causing some other deformation. This would cause the destruction of the physical completeness of the neck and closure, a result easily detectable on visual inspection, thereby allowing any handler of the container of the present invention to quickly and easily detect if the contents thereof had been tampered with.

The closure may be provided with a knock-out type diaphragm, that is a diaphragm which may be removed with relative ease by exerting a force thereon. In this manner, the contents of the container may be removed by the ultimate user merely by knocking out of the diaphragm and pouring or pumping out the contents. A pipe thread disposed about the portion of the closure surrounding the diaphragm has been found to be most useful to facilitate the pumping of the contents of the container and to enable the subsequent rescaling of the container by means of a threaded plug.

Description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a container in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the closure of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional View along line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded side elevational view of the closure and neck;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the closure;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the container neck;

FIG. 7 is a fragmented side elevational sectional view similar to FIG. 3 depicting the neck of the present invention after the diaphragm has been removed and a threaded plug inserted therein; and

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view of an alternate closure construction.

Deccriplion of the preferred embodiment Reference is now made to the drawings and to FIG. 1 in particular in which a container 10 is shown as comprising a body including an outer body 12 and having a plastic lining 14. The top 16 of the container is provided with suit-able openings for the necks to project. In the container 10, pouring neck 18 and vent neck 20 are shown. The construction of both the pouring neck and closure and vent neck and closure are the same and the following description would apply equally to both. Thus, the container includes a neck portion 20 aflixed to the top 24 of the plastic lining 14 and a separate closure or cap 26. It is not essential that the container be lined and if it is not, then the neck may be affixed directly to the container body 12. The neck 20 consists of a substantially cylindrical member extending away from the container and having a thread 28 disposed about its outer surface. This may best be seen in FIG. 4.

The closure 26 may have any convenient configuration such as the octagonal shape of FIG. 2 or the substantially circular shape depicted in the alternate embodiment of FIG. 8. Referring now to FIG. 3, the closure 26 consists of an upper rim 30 from which concentric walls or aprons 32 and 34 depend separated by the annular spacing 52. A diaphragm 36 is disposed within and attached to the inner skirt 32. In other words, the inner apron 32 comprises the peripheral edge of the diaphragm 36. To facilitate the removal of the contents of the container the diaphragm may be of the knock-out type. Thus, by knocking out the diaphragm the contents of the container may be removed without necessitating the removal of the closure from the neck. To enable the con tainer to be rescaled after the diaphragm has been removed, the inner surface of the inner apron 32 is provided with pipe thread 38 disposed thereabout into which threaded plug 40 may be inserted. FIG. 3 depicts the closure before the diaphragm 36 is removed and FIG. 7 depicts the closure after removal and with the plug 40 inserted. Slot 42 is provided in plug 40 to accommodate a screwdriver or other tool to facilitate the placement or removal of the plug 40. A zone of relatively weaker or thinner material 37 may be interposed between the diaphragm 36 and the inner apron 32 to facilitate removal of the diaphragm. The user may either cut out the diaphragm along the weak zone 37 or apply a sufiicient external force to the diaphragm to cause the severance thereof from the internal apron. A thread complementary to the external thread 28 of the neck 20 is disposed about the inner surface of the exterior apron 34 so as to permit the threaded interengagement of the cap and neck.

The locking feature of the container of the present invention is acquired by providing both the closure 26 and neck 20 with saw tooth type ratchets. In the preferred embodiment, as depicted in FIG. 4, the cap ratchet 44 is disposed about the lower peripheral edge 46 of the external skirt 34. The neck ratchet 48 is provided an arcuate lugs 50 disposed about the neck 20. The radius of the lugs 50 is substantially the same as that of the external apron 34 thus insuring the interengagement of the neck ratchet 48 and cap ratchet 44 when the cap is screwed on to the neck. As seen in FIG. 3, the depth of the annular spacing 52 between the internal apron 32 and external apron 34 is suflicient to allow the cap ratchets 44 to engage the neck ratchets 48 when the cap threadedly engages the neck. The closure 26 may be screwed onto the neck 20 until either the top peripheral edge 54 of the neck contacts the internal surface of the outer rim 30 or the tips 56 of the projections of one ratchet nestle in the depressions 58 of the opposite ratchet.

The lugs 50 on the neck also serve to prevent the withdrawal of the neck into the outer body 12 of the container 10. That is, the bottom of the lugs 50 cooperate with the top of the lining 24 in forming a groove 60 into which the top 16 of the container fits, thereby preventing the neck 20 from slipping into the opening provided for it in the top of the container. For the above described purpose only, several ratchet-less lugs 62 may be disposed about the neck as seen in FIG. 6. The bottom of the ratchet-less lugs 62 are at the same level as the bottom of the ratchet lugs 50. The top of the ratchet-less lugs 62 is at the same level or below the level of the depressions 58' so as to not interfere with the locking operation of the ratchet-lugs.

The ratchets 44 and 46 consist of a series of zig-zag or saw teeth 64. The highest point or projection 56 of any one tooth falls off sharply to connect to the lowest point or depression 58 of the adjacent tooth. The surface 72 connecting the projections and depressions of adjacent teeth are substantially parallel to the axis of the neck or cap while the surface 74 connecting the projection and depression of the same tooth is inclined to the axis.

Thus, when the closure 26 is threadedly fastened to the neck 20, the inclined surfaces 74 will permit overriding. However, disengagement of the closure and neck is prevented =by the parallel surfaces 72 and 72 coming in contact with each other. If exceptional force were exerted to force the disengagement of the closure and neck the completeness of their shape would be destroyed, a fact readily apparent upon visual inspection.

It should be understood that modifications may be made in the illustrated and described embodiments of my inveniton without departing from the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. An improved container comprising: a body member including at least one neck defining an opening into the interior of the container; a second member forming a closure for said opening; means including complementary screw threads on said neck and closure for coupling said neck to said closure; and, tamper-proof means for securing said neck and closure one to the other including a first saw-tooth ratchet aifixed to and integral with one of said members and a second saw-tooth ratchet aifixed to and integral with the other member wherein said ratchets comprise a multiplicity as longitudinally extending teeth, each of said teeth having at least one surface inclined to the longitudinal axis of the member to which it is afiixed so as to permit overriding when the closure is applied to the neck and at least one surface substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the member to which it is afiixed so as to prevent the removal of said closure from said neck after it is afiixed thereto.

2. A closure for use with a container having a neck defining an opening into the container interior and having a longitudinally extending saw-tooth ratchet disposed about the neck comprising: closing means for sealing said opening; coupling means for coupling said closure to the neck; and, tamper-proof means for securing said closure to the neck, said tamper-proof means including at least one longitudinally extending saw-tooth ratchet adapted to engage with complementary surfaces on the neck ratchet in an interlocking relationship, said closure ratchet comprising a multiplicity of longitudinally extending teeth each of said teeth having at least one surface inclined to the longitudinal axis of said closure and at least one surface substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said closure, said surface parallel to the longitudinal axis being adapted to cooperate with corresponding surfaces on the neck ratchet to for-m an interlocking relationship.

3. The invention in accordance with claim 2 wherein said closure includes a rim having at least one apron depending therefrom and said coupling means include screw threads disposed about said apron.

4. The invention in accordance with claim 2 wherein said closure includes a rim having a first annular apron depending therefrom and a second depending annular apron concentric with and spaced radially apart from said first apron and said ratchet means are circurnferentially disposed about the peripheral edge distal the rim of one of said aprons.

5. The invention in accordance with claim 2 wherein said closing means comprises a diaphragm disposed Within said rim.

6. The invention in accordance with claim 5 wherein said diaphragm is of the knock-out type.

7. An improved container comprising: a body member including at least one tubular neck extending from said body and defining an opening into the container interior; means for coupling a closure of the type having a sawtooth ratchet aflixed thereto to said neck; and, tamperproof means for securing said closure to the neck, said tamper-proof means including a saw-tooth ratchet integral with and afiixed to the neck, said ratchet comprising a multiplicity of teeth, each of said teeth having at least one surface inclined to the longitudinal axis of the neck and at least one surface substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the neck, said parallel surfaces being adapted to engage with corresponding surfaces on the closure ratchet in an interlocking relationship.

8. The invention in accordance with claim 7 wherein the container includes a pouring neck and a vent neck.

5 6 9. The invention in accordance with claim 7 wherein References Cited said coupling means includes screw threads disposed about UNITED STATES PATENTS said neck.

10. The invention in accordance with claim 7 wherein 2908418 10/1959 Gflnay 220 27 said container includes at least one arcuate flange coaxial 5 with and disposed about said neck and said ratchet is imposed along sald flange JAMES B. MARBERT, Primary Examiner. 

